China's call to build a harmonious world embodies its firm commitment to work for peace and progress, Premier Wen Jiabao said while presenting the Government Work Report at the fifth session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) on Monday.

President Hu Jintao had set the foreign policy goal of a harmonious world at the United Nations Summit on the 60th anniversary of the world body in September 2005, and the Chinese government embarked on its "harmonious world" diplomacy last year.

What should a harmonious world be? Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing explained yesterday that such a world should seek "peaceful, harmonious, scientific and sustainable development". Addressing a press conference at the on-going annual session of NPC, Li said: "The initiative conforms to the trend of the times and to the wish and interests of the people."

The idea of a "harmonious world" is not a whim. Instead, it has evolved out of China's developmental needs. China may have had a sustained economic growth for the past 20-odd years, but it's still a developing country looking forward to the next decade for opportunities of further development, China Institute of International Studies Vice-Director Ruan Zongze said.

"To avail of the opportunities, China needs an environment of peace and stability, as well as the capital, technology, resources and markets through mutually beneficial cooperation for the sustainable development of its economy," he said.

So it's necessary for China to evolve an influential development mode that would create a global political principle of seeking recognition from more countries, Ruan said. That would help its development mode and values and expand its cooperation with the international community.

Chen Qimao, director of Research Centre of International Strategy at Shanghai Jiaotong University, has written in an article that apart from economic globalization, the world is facing other challenges, too, such as environmental protection, climate change, drug trafficking, terrorism, epidemics and the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

"All these global issues," Chen says, "lead to a strong realistic demand for building a harmonious world and call for a new global concept to meet the demand." That's exactly where the importance of China's harmonious world concept lies.

Explaining further, Ruan said China does not believe in the concept of a harmonious world only in theory, but also in practise.

On the diplomatic front, Li said, China is committed to promoting peaceful coexistence, equal treatment, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development. It is committed, too, to pursuing good neighborly relations and mutual trust, resolving disputes through dialogues and other diplomatic means, seeking common security and lasting peace.

Last year, China and the US held their first-ever strategic economic dialogue to prevent economic frictions from getting politicized and to ensure the stability and sustained growth of the global economy. At the talks, China adopted eight measures to support African countries and provide them with aid initiatives worth more than $10 billion over the next three years.

Last October, China welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his ice-breaking visit and used the chance to improve Sino-Japanese ties that had deteriorated over the years. High-level visits by leaders of the two countries, suspended for five years, have resumed since then, with Premier Wen Jiabao scheduled to visit Tokyo next month.

Xinhua hailed the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November, which brought together more than 40 leaders and heads of states from Africa, as "a successful practice of China in its efforts to build a harmonious world".

Also last year, China hosted the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations, and began drafting cooperation codes for various spheres of the regional body to legally guarantee a long-term, good neighborly and friendly cooperation.

For cooperation and progress in Southeast Asia, China presided over the China-ASEAN Summit that marked 15 years of dialogue and partnership between the two sides. It raised an all-round cooperation proposal in strategic, economic, security and cultural spheres, which were later accepted by leaders of the countries attending the summit.

In South Asia, President Hu Jintao reached a consensus on strategic cooperation with India during his state visit to that country in November and decided to institutionalize a high-level bilateral dialogue mechanism.

To help build a harmonious world, China last year assumed more global responsibilities too, economically and politically, in the face the multi-challenges facing the world.

Also, the number of aid items and the total amount the Chinese government gave to countries hit by natural disasters last tear far exceeded those handed out in the previous years. It also offered emergency aid to disaster victims in a few developed nations.

China has always mediated between the US and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and helped resume the Six-Party Talks on the Korean nuclear issue in December after a one-year hiatus. Thanks to its painstaking efforts, the five other countries the US, the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan agreed at the last session of the talks in mid-February on the initial steps to be taken to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

China has also played a positive role in the Iran nuclear issue, Palestinian-Israeli conflict and other regional and international issues. "It has also become an active mediator in international conflicts and helped regulate international rules," Chen Xulong, vice-director of the Department of Strategic Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, was quoted by the Beijing News newspaper as having said.

(China Daily 03/07/2007 page8)